March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Pope Francis said mercy can change
the world in his first Sunday Angelus prayer as pontiff after
earlier personally greeting worshipers who had attended mass in
the Vatican.

“A bit of mercy can make the world less cold and fairer,”
Pope Francis said, speaking in Italian. “Have a good Sunday and
a nice lunch,” Pope Francis, 76, said as he bid the crowd
farewell.

About 150,000 people gathered to see former Cardinal Jorge
Mario Bergoglio of Argentina lead the faithful in prayer from
his window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, Ansa news agency
reported, citing Father Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman.

More than 1 million people are expected to attend the new
pope’s inauguration mass on March 19, Rome’s prefect Giuseppe
Pecoraro told Ansa on March 15. World leaders from around the
globe will attend, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden and Argentine Prime Minister
Cristina Fernandez.

Pope Francis is the first South American to lead the
Catholic Church and the first non-European pontiff in more than
1,200 years. His election on March 13 followed the unprecedented
abdication of predecessor Benedict XVI.

Known for his humility and simple lifestyle -- he rides the
metro at home in Buenos Aires and cooks for himself -- Pope
Francis this week turned down the use of a papal motorcade and
chose to ride the Vatican minibus with other cardinals. He also
rejected prepared texts in Latin, preferring to speak directly
to his audiences in Italian.

Today Pope Francis wore a simple white cassock as he
greeted the crowd, eschewing the red ermine-lined cape often
worn by his predecessors.

Pope Francis inherits a church riven by intrigue and
infighting within its bureaucracy and weakened by the fallout
from sexual abuse scandals. With his built-in appeal to those in
the developing world, he may help rejuvenate a faith that is in
decline in Europe and barely expanding in the U.S.